A U.S. federal judge on Thursday ordered the man accused of committing a shooting on the New York subway to remain in prison after prosecutors said the “terrifying” attack disrupted the city in a way that that hadn’t been seen for two decades.
Frank James, suspected of wounding 23 people in the Brooklyn subway shooting, made his first court appearance on Thursday, wearing a beige prison suit, sneakers, prescription glasses and a blue surgical mask. He faces a federal charge of assaulting a public transportation system.
James, 62, was represented by two public defenders, who asked that he undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
“The defendant opened fire in a terrifying manner on passengers in a crowded car,” Assistant US Attorney Sara Winik said in court, adding that the incident interrupted “the morning commute of transportation in a way that this city has not seen in a long time.” more than 20 years”.
“He fired approximately 33 shots in cold blood at terrified passengers who had nowhere to run or hide,” Winik said.
U.S. Judge Roanne Mann ordered James to be held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, the main prison for defendants awaiting federal trial in New York City, pending a bail request from his lawyers.
James was arrested Wednesday in Manhattan, concluding a 30-hour manhunt for the suspect. He was arrested about five miles from the scene of Tuesday’s attack, which took place during the morning rush hour on an N Line train bound for Manhattan that was approaching an underground station near Sunset Park in Brooklyn.
Police said 10 people were shot directly, five of them hospitalized in critical but stable condition, and another 13 were injured as terrified passengers fled the smoke-filled car on the platform at the 36th Street station. survive.
The gunman disappeared in the melee, but investigators said they established James as a suspect when a crime scene scan revealed a credit card in his name and keys to a van he had rented and parked several blocks away.
Authorities at the scene also recovered the Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol used in the attack, along with three ammunition clips, a blowtorch, an axe, a bag of fireworks and a container of gasoline, according to police and court documents.
The next day, investigators tracked James to Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood, with the help of tips from residents who recognized him from photos, some of which they posted on social media, police said. He was detained without incident, according to authorities.
The New York Times and New York Post, each citing law enforcement sources, reported that James himself alerted police to his whereabouts on Wednesday in a call he made to a McDonald’s hotline. The reports could not be independently verified by the Reuters news agency.
A criminal complaint filed by federal prosecutors Wednesday in District Court in Brooklyn charged James with a single charge: committing a terrorist attack or other violent attack against a mass transit system — a crime that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
James, a Bronx native with recent addresses in Philadelphia and Milwaukee, has had nine previous arrests in New York and three in New Jersey, according to the New York Police Department (NYPD).
Source: CNN Brasil
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